India, Oman discuss ways to enhance cooperation in security

New Delhi: India and Oman on Friday discussed ways to enhance cooperation in various fields, particularly security and trade, with both sides being of the opinion that there is enough scope for it.
The status of the bilateral relations and its future was discussed in detail during a meeting between External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and his Omani counterpart Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah here.

Both the ministers "positively assessed" the institutional dialogue between the two countries on security matters as well as the regular Naval and Air exercises, official sources said.

The two sides hoped to further broaden these aspects, they said.

While discussing the aspect of trade, the two ministers appreciated that there were more than 1500 Indo-Omani joint ventures with the total investment of more than USD 7 billion.

However, they felt that there was scope for enhancement of bilateral trade, which is approximately USD 5 billion per annum.

The two ministers also discussed a range of bilateral and regional issues.
India as well Oman are the members of the Indian Ocean region in general as both Oman and India are members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association and both have one of the busiest Sea Lanes of Communications (SLOCs) passing through their territorial waters.

Apart from it, the two ministers also discussed matters relating to developments in the Gulf, Afghanistan, Syria.

The issue of Omani locations increasingly finding favour with Bollywood was also discussed with both the Ministers feeling that this is likely to result in growth of tourism.